


VE Day

by ArchitectofSorrow



Category: Agent Carter (TV), Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Bisexual Character, Bisexual Male Character, Everyone loves Steve Rogers, F/M, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Homophobic Society, M/M, Male-Female Friendship, One-Sided Attraction, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Self Deprecating Humor, Self-Hatred, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-21
Updated: 2016-05-21
Packaged: 2018-06-09 20:31:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6922297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArchitectofSorrow/pseuds/ArchitectofSorrow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>///It’s VE day again, just like last year. Only this time Howard isn’t out in a plane over the water trying to save Steve and almost massacring celebrators in Times Square. He’s here in the house he gave Peggy and Angie. They’re in the sitting room, finishing off tea and some lovely little sandwiches Angie picked up from the deli on her way back from work.///</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Peggy and Howard recall the first VE Day and discuss Steve Rogers, the man they both fell for. Set just before the second season  of Agent Carter. An elaboration on the feelings Howard expressed for Steve Rogers in Agent Carter, season one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	VE Day

It’s VE day again, just like last year. Only this time Howard isn’t out in a plane over the water trying to save Steve and almost massacring celebrators in Times Square. He’s here in the house he gave Peggy and Angie. They’re in the sitting room, finishing off tea and some lovely little sandwiches Angie picked up from the deli on her way back from work. She’s doing plays now, not Broadway yet, but she’s getting paid. Howard brought port and won’t stop talking about L.A. He’s making movies.

‘I should put you in one,’ Howard tells Angie. She blushes beet red. ‘What? You’ve got that face: big eyes, rounded angles. I can see you being rescued by Cary Grant or Laurence Olivier.’

‘Couldn’t we have a movie where the woman doesn’t have to be rescued?’ Peggy says. She gathers up the used sandwich plates and sets them near the sink to be washed later. Angie puts the bread, cheese, and meat away, while Howard remains seated.

 ‘Oh, Peg, do we really have to go into this?’ He waves his hand in the air, as if he’s brushing away her criticism. ‘Movies are a business like anything. I’m just giving people what they want. People love movies where the leading lady gets captured, all the swooning, the neck tilted back, exposed, all that female vulnerability. Makes men go wild, and the women like it too, imagining themselves in that position of pure, unadulterated helplessness. Well, at least most women do. You’ve got to like some movies, Peg.’

‘I liked _Now, Voyager_ ,’ Peggy says. She’s cutting up pound cake with quick strokes of her bread knife.

Howard scrunches up his face. ‘What’s that one about?’

‘A woman who learns to believe in herself and gains independence after being stifled her whole life then helps a twelve-year-old girl who’s also struggling.’

‘It had Bette Davis in it,’ Angie put in.

‘Oh, yeah, yeah, I did see that one,’ Howard says, smiling, ‘she falls for that married man. That double cigarette scene – sexy. I didn’t know you went in for the risqué though, Peg.’ He winks at Peggy and smiles sideways at Angie, who puts her hand over her mouth and ducks her head to hide her laughter.

Peggy rolls her eyes. ‘You and I view the world very differently.’

‘And yet we can love the same things.’ Howard holds out his teacup filled with brandy. ‘Cheers.’

Peggy raises an eyebrow.

‘What?’ Howard says, ‘it’s V-E day? Let’s not fight, let’s party.’

OoO

 

‘Do you remember our first VE day?’ Howard says. It’s nearing midnight, and Angie’s gone to bed because she has a rehearsal in the morning. Howard and Peggy are still up, sitting in a window seat, drinking champagne out of shot glasses.

Peggy pushes a clump of hair back behind her ear. ‘How would I forget that, Howard? It was the VE day, the very first.’

‘Yeah, yeah, it was. I remember watching the fireworks and being mindlessly drunk.’

‘That sounds accurate.’

‘All that band music, those girls with their thin, bright dresses.’

‘I was surprised there wasn’t one under your arm,’ Peggy says.

‘Oh, there was someone. You remember that young fellow who or may not have looked almost exactly like Steve?’

‘There was someone passable. What about him?’ Peggy picks up her champagne glass.

‘Let’s just say something went down that night, and it was him.’

She chokes on her champagne. ‘Wha – What?’

‘Sorry, Peg, so sorry,’ Howard says quickly. ‘That was rude, vulgar, mean-spirited. I should stop drinking.’ He places his glass on one of the built-in bookcases that stand on either side of the window.

‘Yes, I guess so.’ Peggy also sets her glass down, pushes the champagne bottle out of reach. She looks out the window at the dark street. ‘Did you at least have the courtesy of returning the favor?’

Howard shakes his head. ‘I tried, but I just ended up puking on him.’

‘Howard!’

‘What? You asked. I mean he was kind of large _there_ , but mostly I blame the shellfish you forced me to eat. I knew they were bad.’

‘That’s disgusting and really, really sad.’

Howard half smiles. ‘No words describe me better.’

‘Howard, you spent VE day drunkenly sleeping with a stranger who vaguely resembled your dead crush.’

‘Hey, you actually got to kiss the real deal. I never had that chance, in all probability never would have.’

‘Howard…’

‘What? It’s true, and probably a good thing. I would have contaminated him.’

‘Don’t say that.’

‘You’ve thought it before. I mean there he was this perfect being…’

‘No one’s perfect, Howard,’ Peggy says.

But Howard’s not listening. He’s gazing out the window, in the direction of the sea.

‘This perfect being, I helped perfect. I loved him, too much. It’s strange thinking he was jealous of me, because of you, and all the while I couldn’t stop looking, and he was friendly to me, and I let that be enough, because I couldn’t ask for more, never could. I don’t think he would have turned me in or said anything disparaging, but I couldn’t. He was so kind to me, but I know eventually my luck would run out. He would end up hating me. It’s better that he never knew, better that he’s dead. No, that’s not true. It would be better if I was dead, and he lived. He wouldn’t miss me this much.’

‘You’re still not over him,’ Peggy says.

Howard turns to her. ‘And you are, completely? You can just push him out of your heart like that. You’re stone cold, Peggy.’

‘We can miss someone and still move on with our lives, Howard. We have to. Or our lives end with his, and that’s not what he wanted. He wanted to save us, all of us, to save you.’

‘Poppycock. He wasn’t thinking about me. If he was, he would have let me help him land the plane.’

‘There wasn’t enough time.’

‘Then I’ll make some. I’ll invent the first ever working time machine.’

‘Oh, I wish, but there are limits to even your genius, Howard.’

‘Why’d it have to him? Why him? Why do I love him?’

‘It’s nothing we can help, Howard.’ Peggy reaches over and touches Howard’s shoulder, and he crumbles against her.

‘I wish I had told him,’ Howard says.

Peggy remains silent.


End file.
